Late last month, game developer Manabu Daishima passed awaywhile diving off the coast of Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. Daishima worked on an array of classic titles, doing monster designs for Romancing SaGa, field graphics for Chrono Trigger, and background design for Final Fantasy XII. He was 45 years old.

The name “Tokyo RPG Factory” conjures a dreary image. An assembly line for role-playing games, perhaps, where dozens of masked workers flank a conveyor belt, smashing together parts: an oversized sword here, a Firaga there, a melancholy hero to tie it all together. Every day they must crank out a new RPG to be shipped…

In the last couple of years, I’ve developed a strange relationship with JRPGs. I found myself tiring of their beautiful exteriors that lacked heart. Since writing that article about my growing frustrations, I took a break—distancing myself from the genre that dragged me into gaming. It was a necessary betrayal.

You may have missed the Chrono Trigger speedrun at Summer Games Done Quick, mostly because it took place on a late Saturday night and we all have better things to do on late Saturday nights, like play Chrono Trigger.